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Gay marriage on ballot in 4 states

A majority of voters appear to support same-sex marriage in Maryland. | AP Photo

That has been a refrain among Republicans for months — that Obama hurt himself by personally backing gay marriage, energizing Hispanic evangelicals and offending some black pastors. In North Carolina, where a statewide gay marriage ban passed ahead of the Democratic National Convention, Republicans believe the issue has damaged Obama.

It’s not clear that North Carolina would have been in Obama’s column anyway this year — the race there currently remains close, according to public polls. But that ballot initiative, along with the defeat of two GOP state senators in New York who voted for gay marriage and lost their primaries this year, are reminders that the issue remains divisive.

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According to public polls, a narrow national majority supports gay marriage, a big difference from just a few short years ago. What’s more, prominent Republican donors are supporting the pro-gay marriage side of the state-based fights, such as mega-donor Paul Singer. But Republican nominee Mitt Romney is strongly against gay marriage — and while some Republicans are doubtful about whether the GOP nominee would move ahead with a federal gay marriage ban, as he said he would during the primary fights, Romney has laid out his position clearly on the issue.

What’s more, conservatives point to the gay marriage bans that have passed in dozens of states, and the headline-grabbing Chick-fil-A protests over the summer against gay marriage, to argue that perceptions of sweeping changes in voter mood on this issue is overstated. Gay marriage backers disagree.

“Win or lose — we’ve lost ballot measures in more than 30 states and we haven’t stopped putting pressure on legislators and governors to pass marriage,” said Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen. “I think either way the march of progress continues and the forces of opposition are nowhere near giving up.”

Rosen called this year “unique” because of the looming Supreme Court battles, with outcomes that have more expansive geographic reach. And there are other points that gay activists point to - if Tammy Baldwin wins the Wisconsin Senate battle over Republican Tommy Thompson, she’d be the first openly gay member of the chamber.

But a state-based win is “the final barrier we need to overcome,” said Evan Wolfson, of the group Freedom to Marry.

“We really do see a pathway to winning in all four states, but none is a done deal,” he said. “The polling is really very favorable in Maine, we’re very hopeful in Washington and Maryland, and [the polling] shows it’s winnable where we’re under attack in Minnesota. So we really do see a pathway to win in all four, but it’s an uphill fight for any minority to win a majority of the ballot.”

In Maryland, Wolfson said, the group is using a radio ad featuring Obama talking about why he changed his position on the issue.

“Yes, I think that the more people have a chance to talk about gay families, real stories and why marriage matters, not just think about it as an abstraction or some kind of right-wing scary rhetoric, the more they move in support of it,” Wolfson said.

Michael Cole-Schwartz, the spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign - which has sent more than $5 million to the four statewide efforts - said that it’s not as if the movement disappears without a win on Tuesday.

“We’re committed to marriage equality around the country, so we won’t rest until all loving and committed same sex couples are able to be married. If we are faced with losses on Tuesday, we will continue to do the work of changing hearts and minds. When you look at how polling on this issue has shifted so dramatically just in the last few years, we know our strategy is working.

“If we face losses,” he added, “it remains only a matter of time before we see marriage as something that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Correction: This story has been updated to state that the Human Rights Campaign has spent $5 million, not $1 million, on the ballot initiatives supporting gay marriage in four states.

Great, this should bring out the voters, which means Barry could lose all four states.

I wish this had been on the ballot in my state. We voted it down sometime back. But if it had come up again, I'd have gotten the chance to vote down Barry and the queers. It isn't ofen that such a twofer comes along.

I wish this had been on the ballot in my state. We voted it down sometime back. But if it had come up again, I'd have gotten the chance to vote down Barry and the queers. It isn't ofen that such a twofer comes along.

It's not big government's job to restrict rights from things you find disgusting. It's time to get big government out of our bedrooms and relationships.

"Marriage should remain a religious institution, and civil unions should be how the government hands out the licenses. Everyone's happy."

Exactly. Or that's at least what you'd hope, but religious conservatives aren't happy until they use big government to force us all to follow their religious views. That's the problem, they will never understand a perspective of smaller government and less government regulation of our private lives on issues like this.

I live in Washington State, we have two very Libertarian measures on the ballot, one to stop discrimination in marriage based on sexual identity, the other to legalize marijuana. I'm hoping both pass, it's looking good for them. Less government in our our private lives and more freedom!

If you think that two gays being married to each other somehow affects your life then you must not have much of a life. And no surprise that one of the usual conservative windbags is here spouting dumb comments about animal marriage.

Since 2004, six states have legalized same-sex marriage: Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont, Notice that there have been absolutely no consequences to anyone except those getting married.

Ten years from now no one will be able to remember what the fuss was all about.

Boy have you got that one backwards! . It's you who is the malicious meddler.

It's your community that is seeking to destroy cultural institutions. Were that not the case you would accept the 'civil union' comproise rahter than insisting upon calling it marriage and undermining the institution of marriage.

Yours is a fundamentally dishonest argument. This is an assault of the institution of the nuclear family.

"Boy have you got that one backwards! . It's you who is the malicious meddler.

It's your community that is seeking to destroy cultural institutions. Were that not the case you would accept the 'civil union' comproise rahter than insisting upon calling it marriage and undermining the institution of marriage.

Yours is a fundamentally dishonest argument. This is an assault of the institution of the nuclear family."

Apparently you are confused as to who my people are, they are Libertarians, and I very much support civil unions--for all straight and gay couples. Big government should get out of the marriage business altogether. There is no Constitutional role for government to protect the nuclear family or cultural instututions. I want to shrink the , cost and scope of government, where you want to give big government more power over our private lives and personal decisions. I stand on the side of freedom.

If Mark Twain had ever been asked to offer his thoughts on the subject, I feel his response would have been: "I don't care who marries who or who has sex with who as long as they don't scare the horses."

"SeattleDan, is well, a queer from Seattle. Seattle: an immoral as it can get, God forsaken hell hole. Bathhouse Barry would feel quite at home there."

Really? You think calling someone a queer is going to fly as an argument on a political forum? How stupid are you? How hard is it to understand the Libertarian perspective? We want less government. We want to pay less taxes to government. We want to have less government regulation of business. And we want to have less government regulation of our personal lives, rights and freedoms.